It's been awhile, but I'm finally starting to knit again. Yea!! My son is about to be 3 months (on Friday) and is sleeping all night. Since I'm a little more rested, I have started to put my "itching to knit" fingers to work again.
I've started knitting a slip-stich sampler throw to work on color-work. So far I really like it! I don't knit very many blankets because they take so long to finish, and this one is going to be fairly large. So far every blanket I've made I've given away as gifts, but I think I'm going to keep this one. :)
I downloaded the free knitting pattern from the Lion Brand Yarn website. They suggest using Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn, but I'm using Knit Picks Brava Worsted yarn. I've never used this yarn before since it's pretty new to Knit Picks, but I'm liking it! It's 100% premium acrylic so it's pretty easy care which is what I needed. It's machine washable which is very important to me especially now! :) I'm using 9 different colors: Umber Heather, Paprika, Currant, Denim, Dublin, Cobblestone Heather, Fig, Camel Heather, & Solstice Heather. I'm also using my Addi Turbo circular knitting needles (my favorite needles) size 8 instead of straight needles.
The throw is made up of 6 large squares that are sewn together (my least favorite part!). Each square is worked the same except for the color combinations. The squares begin with a center square each and are then worked in a log cabin fashion by picking up stitches for each log.
I've never done much "color-work" before but since this pattern uses slip stitches, it's much easier then I thought it would be. I'm not looking forward to sewing all the ends of the yarn strands or sewing the large squares together however! Oh well...I think / hope it will turn out pretty. :)
I'm almost finished with the first large square, so I'll post pictures as I finish them.
